Drop in the Ocean
by aplaceinthestars
Summary: Holy flying kiwis! It's a RaynarLusa fic! yes kiddies, they exist. Anywho, a little bit of fluff and reflection from Lusa. ((EDITED REPOST!))


Disclaimers: Anything familiarly Star Wars STILL isn't mine, however rest assured NJO would have never happened if it was. Lyrics: "Drop In the Ocean" (Written by Michelle Branch, Jennifer Hagio, Will Golden, Bernie Reilly) ©2001 I'm With The Band Music Publishing Company (ASCAP)  
  
A/N: This is an edit of a fic I did a long time ago. It's still your basic fluff songfic, and pretty weak, but I wanted to leave it here if only to claim the title of Only Raynar/Lusa Fic. XD So yeah....enjoy.  
  
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Lusa sat silently watching the stars glitter in the sky. She shifted, carefully folding her cinnamon-colored equine legs beneath her. She sighed quietly to herself. If only she could turn back time and never join the Diversity Alliance, never have Nolaa Tarkona's evil thoughts planted in her head. A shudder wracked her body. Nolaa's words of hatred towards humans had made Lusa fear her friends. That fear, that terrible blind hatred that Nolaa has instilled in her followers was a more powerful weapon than any armament she could have gotten her hands on—although she enjoyed those immensely as well.  
  
Fear was a horrible feeling, Lusa decided. A feeling of loneliness, knowing there was nowhere to hide.  
  
Forcing herself to readjust, to unlearn all those teachings had been difficult; a true test of Lusa's spirit—one she had struggled with, and ultimately triumphed through. Jacen and Jaina had always been there for her, of course, ever since they had been kidnapped by Hethrir as children. But she'd needed more than friends. She needed one single person that she could open up to completely. Someone that somehow, some way, managed to be more awkward than she.  
  
Lusa giggled at the thought.  
  
~*Love took me by the hand,  
  
Love took me by surprise.*~  
  
In all honesty, Lusa had never imagined herself falling in love with anyone, much less a human. But returning to Yavin Four had been a big step forward, and she needed only to find someone to guide her the rest of the way.  
  
She did.  
  
Lusa didn't have a particularly clear picture of what humans considered physically attractive, having been in a self-inflicted exile from them for so long, but she was an observant girl, quite sharp and not as naive as some took her for. She didn't find it difficult to derive, at the very least, that her new guide in life wasn't what the other girls at the academy would have been overly interested in. Lusa smiled inwardly—she never meant such thoughts to be rude.  
  
Lusa found something bizarrely...intriguing about him. Moon round face, rather tousled looking spiky blond hair-but most of all it was those eyes...crystal clear blue eyes. Lusa had seen something in those eyes. Reflecting, now a few years later, Lusa could clearly comprehend what it had been. Lusa had seen just how foolish she had been to close off her heart to anyone else, humans in particular. And something in the way that boy had looked at her made her reconsider.  
  
Maybe she hadn't known it then, but Lusa now knew that she had loved Raynar Thul from the instant she saw him.  
  
~*Love led me to you  
  
Love opened up my eyes.*~  
  
Lusa heard a rustling in the bushes behind her. She stood up, plodding closer to the source of the sound. "Is someone there?" She asked softly into the darkness beyond.  
  
There were a few more twig-snapping steps before an uneasy reply. "Uh yeah- is that you, Lusa?"  
  
Lusa smiled. "Raynar." She retreated back to her previous position as the boy pushed through the dense underbrush and into the clearing.  
  
He sat down beside her. "What are you doing out so late?"  
  
"I guess I could ask you the same thing." Lusa said, turning to face him.  
  
Raynar shrugged. "I had a feeling that you were out here. I thought I'd come and, uh, make sure you were alright."  
  
"That's very sweet of you." A smile crossed her face.  
  
He looked away, embarrassed. "Well, I...I wasn't just going to leave you out here. You know...this place seems to attract trouble." Raynar's gaze flickered back over to Lusa for a moment than drew back to the ground. "I guess I'll go back in now."  
  
"No," Lusa reached over and put a hand on his shoulder as he attempted to stand. A blush stained her cheeks when she noticed what she'd done. "I mean, will you stay out here with me?"  
  
Raynar blinked in surprise. "Yeah! I'd love to." He sat a bit closer to her. "We should do this more often. It's nice out here. I've never come outside the academy this late." Lusa stifled a giggle. Raynar was rambling a little—but it didn't matter. His eyes cast upward, reflecting the starlight.  
  
Rather than comment on her friend's disconnected bursts of thoughts, Lusa smiled gently. "It's very peaceful, isn't it? I come out here every now and then and just think about things." There was a slight pause.. "Actually, I was thinking of you right before you got here."  
  
"Me? Not much to think about." He looked down. Self-deprecation was usually Raynar's way of covering embarrassment. It wasn't so much that he actually doubted himself, he just...couldn't accept hearing it from someone else.  
  
Especially from Lusa.  
  
~*'Cause I was drifting away like a drop in the ocean.*~  
  
Lusa frowned slightly. "That's not true."  
  
Raynar casually ran a hand over his blond hair. "I guess I just meant that there isn't anything very interesting about me."  
  
"If it wasn't for you, I'd probably still be terrified of humans." Lusa said quietly. Raynar looked at her in surprise. Lusa continued. "The first time I saw you, I had a feeling you would help me. The things I was taught were hard to ignore...and trying to disregard it only made things worse. I was very lonely before I met you. That's the worst feeling of all...a feeling like you're being pulled downstream and there's no way to stop yourself, nothing to hold on to. Maybe that doesn't make sense to you, but..."  
  
"No." Raynar interjected sharply. "It makes a lot of sense."  
  
A frown creased Lusa's face as she considered this. "Not many people do. But...it doesn't matter, right? We should just enjoy the night."  
  
"No," A hand drifted to Lusa's shoulder. "Please go on."  
  
Lusa shook her head. "I can't even begin to describe what happened. Just talking to you makes me feel better, Raynar. And back then, before I'd gotten over...everything, it was what I needed to reject those teachings. Ever since then I've just..." She trailed off.  
  
~*And now I realize that nothing has been as beautiful  
  
as when I saw heaven's skies*~  
  
"Just what?" Raynar pressed on. "I'm sorry for being nosy, but if you don't tell me, I'm going to have to wonder about it forever." A small smile crossed his face.  
  
Lusa had to struggle to reject that smile. He looked so sincere, so...sweet. Sh shook her headd, mane flopping."I can't tell you. I'm sorry."  
  
"I understand." Raynar said. "I know I haven't always been the most trustworthy person in the universe. But if you change your mind...I'll be happy to listen. I'd really never tell anyone." There was that honest smile again. "But I guess you know better than anyone that people really can change."  
  
"I do."  
  
~*In your eyes.*~  
  
She looked over at him. Raynar shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. "I, uh, is there something wrong?"  
  
"No. Why?"  
  
"You were...um, looking at me kind of funny. Maybe I'm just paranoid." He didn't meet her eyes. "I don't know."  
  
"Maybe you'll think I'm silly for saying this, Raynar, but..." She trailed off.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"You have such beautiful eyes."  
  
"No one's ever said something like that to me before." Raynar looked like he might fall over backwards and roll until he hit a tree. "I...I guess I don't know what to say."  
  
"You don't have to say anything." Lusa assured him.  
  
~*In your eyes.*~  
  
"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you. But you really do have very striking blue eyes." She blushed a bit. "Not to say that that's your only attractive feature."  
  
Now those eyes were starting to go nervously wide. "I think I have to go now."  
  
Lusa sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have said that." She looked away from him. "I'm really sorry. I guess I wasn't thinking." She blinked back tears. Fool, she scolded herself. He doesn't love you. Don't say those kinds of things!  
  
"Lusa." He suddenly looked astonished. "Lusa, are you crying? Oh great, now I've made you cry." He racked his brain for the appropriate thing to say but could come up with nothing. At a loss for words, he instead sat down next to her and cautiously hugged her. "I'm sorry." He whispered. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Lusa."  
  
~*And every time I drift away  
  
I lose myself in you.*~  
  
The moment his arms slid around her, Lusa knew nothing else but Raynar. Her sadness faded. All she could feel was his warm embrace; all she could hear was his soft breathing and nervous apologies. Lusa reached up and wrapped her arms around him.  
  
"You have nothing to be sorry for Raynar." She pulled away just enough to brush a soft kiss on his cheek, something she thought she would never dare to do.  
  
She had always known he would make things better.  
  
~*And now I see I can be me  
  
in everything I do.~*  
  
Raynar took a deep breath. This was it, he told himself, his only chance. "Lusa," He whispered to her softly. He looked into her eyes. "I love you."  
  
~*'Cause I was feeling as small as a drop in the ocean  
  
And now I realize that nothing has been as beautiful  
  
As when I saw heaven's skies  
  
In your eyes.*~  
  
Lusa smiled. "I've always loved you. Ever since I met you. I knew you would save me from everything the Diversity Alliance had made me believe." She hugged him again. "I love you so much."  
  
~*In your eyes.*~  
  
The next morning, Raynar and Lusa walked back out to the clearing again, seating themselves in almost exactly the same position as the previous night. Raynar ran a hand through Lusa's rich cinnamon mane. "I'm so glad I found you."  
  
"You know me too well. I'm always out here." She smiled.  
  
"I didn't mean last night," Raynar said. "I just meant...well, you've helped me out a lot, Lusa. I've never known someone like you."  
  
~*Love took me by the hand.*~  
  
Lusa grinned. "You're so sweet." She looked a bit uneasy though, as Raynar leaned in closer to her.  
  
~*Love took me by surprise.*~  
  
Raynar wrapped an arm around Lusa and kissed her softly on the lips.  
  
Lusa looked as stunned as Raynar had the night before. "I..."  
  
Raynar interrupted her.  
  
~*And I was drifting away like a drop in the ocean  
  
And now I've realized that nothing has been as beautiful  
  
As when I saw heaven's skies  
  
In your eyes.*~  
  
"You don't have to say anything." Both smiled.  
  
~*In your eyes.*~ 


End file.
